Concrete consolidator for canal slipforms



March 2, 1965 R. A. HANSON 3,171,260

CONCRETE CONSOLIDATOR F'OR CANAL SLIPFORMS Filed June 22, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. RAYMOND A. HANSON ATTYS.

March 2, 1965 R. A. HANSON 3,171,260

CONCRETE CONSOLIDATCR FOR CANAL SLIPFORMS v Filed June 22, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. RAYMOND A. HANSON ATTYS- March 2, 1965 R. A. HANSON CONCRETE CONSOLIDATOR FOR CANAL SLIPFORMS Filed June 22. 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 HHHHHHHU INVENTOR. RAYMOND A. HANSON BY M ATTYS.

United States Patent 71,260 CGNCRETE CGNSGLIDATOR FOR CANAL SLIPFGRMS Raymond A. Hanson, R. A. Hanson Co., Palouse, Wash. Filed June 22, 1961, Ser. No. 118,977 3 Claims. (Cl. 61-63) The present invention relates to a novel consolidating apparatus for compacting concrete While being placed by a canal slipform.

It is a common practice to line canals and ditches with concrete, using a front bulkhead and a rear troweling skirt which are moved longitudinally along the excavation as a unit as concrete is poured between them.

Conventionally concrete is supplied across the canal width by a skip car which periodically traverses the top of the slipform and directs concrete to the ditch surface by means of a plurality of tremie tubes.

It is a first object of this invention to eliminate the skip car and tremie tubes by providing means on the slipform to insure even distribution of concrete poured along the top side walls of the preformed ditch between the bulkhead and troweling skirt. In place of the cumbersome tremie tubes and skip car, a single cross conveyor is utilized to transfer concrete from a main hopper to the opposite side of the slipform. It is another object of this invention to provide a consolidating apparatus in the area being lined with concrete so as to intimately mix and pack the Wet concrete material in the very position it will attain permanently in the finished liner. This final consolidation in place insures a uniform quality of concrete and minimizes the collection of air pockets in the concrete after pouring. Both the necessary consolidation and even placement of concrete are attained by a single apparatus.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a consolidating structure having a minimum of parts below the concrete level during placement of the concrete. The consolidating elements are supported on the slipform above the normal depth of concrete within the form and require little maintenance.

It is another object to provide consolidation with an oscillatory movement limited to a single vertical plane and extending substantially across the entire cross-section of the finished liner. This is accomplished by an eccentric drive, using the drive for one side of the unit out of phase with the drive for the remaining side.

These and further objects will be evident from a study of the following description which shows one form of the invention as mounted on a slipform generally shown in normal profile. The concepts embodied in the invention are not to be limited except as they are defined by the claims annexed to this detailed disclosure.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a slipform in operating position within a canal, the consolidator elements being illustrated in dashed lines;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the slipform at an enlarged scale;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken along the line 33 in FIGURE 1, showing the position of the consolidator during the lining of a canal; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 44 in FIGURE 2 with the left hand side of the machine being broken away.

Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated a slipform which is shown in outline since the specific features of the slipform do not in themselves relateto the present invention. The basic structure of the slipform 10 includes a rigid apparatus designed to be moved along the mounted along one of its straight portions.

3,171,260 Patented Mar. 2, 1965 ice length of a ditch to form a concrete lining on the face of the ditch surfaces. The canal ditch may have any desired cross-section, the ditch illustrated having the conventional fiat bottom wall 11 and a pair of inwardly sloping side walls 12.

The slipform 10 is suspended within the ditch between a pair of crawler track assemblies 13 which travel along the ground surface 14 adjacent the ditch. The main bulk of the slipform 10 hangs from transverse beams 15 which are supported between the crawler track assemblies 13. The pertinent elements of the slipform 10 are the forward bulkhead 16 and the rear troweling skirt 17. These elements are fixed to beams 15 at their upper ends and are supported at their intermediate areas by vertical struts 18. Deflector plates 20 maintain the separation between the bulkhead 16 and troweling skirt 17.

The bulkhead 16 conforms to the shape of the ditch walls 11 and 12 and has a lower edge 21 adapted to ride along the ditch with a slight clearance between it and the wall surfaces. The troweling skirt 17 is also shaped to conform to the ditch structure and is provided with a rearwardly extending bottom edge 22 adapted to smooth the finished lining. Edge 22 is positioned at the elevation desired for the outside lining surface.

Concrete is received in a hopper 23 fixed to the slipform as seen in FIGURE 1. A portion of this concrete supply is directed to the left hand side of the ditch directly and a portion is directed to the right hand side by a cross-conveyor 24. Thus the wet concrete is'placed between the bulkhead 16 and the troweling skirt 17 as the two elements move along the length of the ditch. The plates 2il retard the flow of concrete along sides 12 of the ditch so as to insure a complete cross-sectional lining of the desired uniformity.

This simple conveyor structure replaces the conventional skip car and tremie tubes which complicated the production of canal liners. It is made possible by the following consolidator apparatus which insures proper movement of concrete along the ditch walls during placement.

As concrete is placed along a path such as that encountered within the confines of this machine, it tends to settle the aggregate. The dispersal of material is not entirely consistent and the flow must be constantly balanced by control of hopper 23 and conveyor 24. In order to alleviate these common difiiculties, the instant device was conceived.

The consolidating apparatus which forms this invention is identical at each side of the slipform 14 the two sides being mirror images of one another. Each includes a bent pipe 25 mounted between the bulkhead 16 and the troweling skirt 17 in an elevation between the ditch walls 11 and 12 and the bottom edge 22 of the troweling skirt 17. Thus pipe 25 is located at the final position of the concrete used to line the canal.

Fipe 25 is bent to conform to the ditch configuration. It is supported by a pivoted parallelogram linkage This linkage includes two parallel identical links 26, 27, each of which are pivoted at one end to the pipe 25 for relative movement about spaced axes which are parallel to the direction of motion of slipform 10. The remaining ends of links 26, 27 are fixed to support rods 28, 29 respectively. Rods 28, 229 are rotatably supported between the inner vertical walls of bulkhead 16 and troweling skirt 17 by conventional bearings 30. The pivotal axes at each end of the links 26, 27 are parallel to one another. Thus motion of pipe 25 is limited to a fixed vertical plane.

Motion is imparted to pipe 25 by means of a crank arm 31 fixed to the lower support rod 29. The outer end of crank arm 31 is pivoted to an operating arm 32 which extends to a bearing sleeve 33. Sleeve 33 is rotatably mounted on an eccentric cam 34 fixed to an offset shaft 35. Shaft 35 is driven by any conventional source of power, such as a hydraulic motor 36 mounted on slipform The operation of this assembly is very simple. As shaft is driven by motor 36 the two arms 31 will be moved in opposite directions due to their connections with sleeve 33. This will move the pipes 25 out of phase relative to one another as restrictedby their respective parallelogram linkages. Thus, although the two pipes 25 lie in a single plane and extend substantially across the bottom wall 11 of the ditch, the two pipes will not strike one another due to the complementary movement given to them. This motion is illustrated by FIGURE 4 which shows the two extreme positions of pipes 25.

The pipe 25 provides constant agitation of the concrete as it is being placed along the ditch walls 11 and 12. This agitation densities and mixes the particles within the concrete material to insure a well mixed finished product. By acting along the entire liner cross-section, the consolidator performs the function of insuring the completion of a homogeneous. concrete liner which will have the desired strength properties necessary in such structures.

The instant concept may be adapted to various forms of canal slipforms and ditch liners with only the requirernent of mechanical adaptation. Therefore only the following claims are intended to limit the extent of this invention. 3

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a slipform for continuous lining of a ditch, the form having a front wall adapted to ride adjacent to the ditch walls, a troweling skirt spaced rearwardly from the front wall adapted to ride parallelto the ditch walls and spaced therefrom, and concrete pouring means adapted to position concrete between the front wall and the troweling skirt'during forward motion of the slip form, a consolidating apparatus comprising:

a rigid length of pipe positioned between the front wall and the troweling skirt bent to conform to a vertical section of the ditch;

a pair of support links spaced along a straight section of said pipe and respectively pivotally connected thereto at one end about a first pair of horizontal longitudinal axes, said links being identical in length and parallel to one another; 7 V

and eccentric drive means mounted on the slipform operatively connected to one of said links adapted to reciprocate said one link to thereby cause said links to oscillate in a vertical plane about their fixed pivotal axes on the slipform.

2. In a slipform for continuous lining of a ditch having a flat bottom wall and downwardly converging side walls, the form having a transverse vertical front wall whose lower edge is shaped to complement the ditch walls and is adapted to travel along the ditch adjacent the walls thereof, a troweling skirt spaced rearwardly from the front Wall having a transverse vertical Wall and a bottom surface spaced from and positioned parallel to the ditch walls and extending rearwardly from the transverse vertical wall, the bottom surface being shaped to complement the shape of the ditch walls, a consolidatmg apparatus comprising:

a pair of independent rigid lengths of pipe at either side of the slipform, said length being mirror images of one another, each of said lengths of pipe extending parallel to the side walls of the ditch in a vertical plane and being positioned intermediate the elevation of the ditch walls and the bottom surface of said trowelingv skirt and being further positioned intermediate said two transverse vertical walls;

parallelogram linkages pivotally supported by said transverse vertical walls pivotally connected to said lengths of pipe about spaced axes parallel to the direction of travel of the slipform;

and common eccentric means operatively connected to said parallelogram linkages adapted to oscillate said linkages in a vertical plane in response to motion of the eccentric means.

3. In a slipform for continuous lining of a ditch, the form having a troweling skirt spaced parallel to the ditch bottom and side walls, and a concrete supply apparatus adapted to place concrete along the top sides of the ditch forward of the troweling skirt prior to the passage of the troweling skirt over the poured area, a concrete consolidating assembly comprising:

a rod suspended from the slipform forward of the troweling skirt within the elevation bounded by the troweling skirt and the ditch walls, said rod being bent in a vertical plane so as to conform to the vertical ditch configuration;

a plurality of longitudinally spaced parallel support links pivoted respectively at one end to said rod about spaced horizontal axes parallel to the direction of motion of said slipform and pivoted respectively at their remaining ends to said framework about spaced horizontal axes parallel to the direction of motion of said slipform;

a crank arm fixed relative to one of said links;

and a connecting arm pivotally connected at one end to said crank arm and pivotally connected at its remaining end about an eccentric pivot axis spaced parallel to the axis of a rotatable driving element.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,619,083 3/27 Maxon 94--45 2,447,571 8/48 Ekenstam 61-63 2,598,903 6/52 Gebhard 6163 2,827,771 3/58 Baer 6l63 2,885,861 5/59 Jackson 61-63 2,947,230 8/60 Herr et a1. 94-46 2,975,602 3/61 Stromberg 61--63 HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner.

JACOB L. NACKENOFF, Examiner. 

1. IN A SLIPFORM FOR CONTINUOUS LINING OF A DITCH, THE FORM HAVING A FRONT WALL ADAPTED TO RIDE ADJACENT TO THE DITCH WALLS, A TROWELING SKIRT SPACED REARWARDLY FROM THE FRONT WALL ADAPTED TO RIDE PARALLEL TO THE DITCH WALLS AND SPACED THEREFROM, AND CONCRETE POURING MEANS ADAPTED TO POSITION CONCRETE BETWEEN THE FRONT WALL AND THE TROWELING SKIRT DURING FORWARD MOTION OF THE SLIPFORM, A CONSOLIDATING APPARATUS COMPRISING: A RIGID LENGTH OF PIPE POSITIONED BETWEEN THE FRONT WALL AND THE TROWELING SKIRT BENT TO CONFORM TO A VERTICAL SECTION OF THE DITCH; A PAIR OF SUPPORT LINKS SPACED ALONG A STRAIGHT SECTION OF SAID PIPE AND RESPECTIVELY PIVOTALLY CONNECTED THERETO AT ONE END ABOUT A FIRST PAIR OF HORIZONTAL LONGITUDINAL AXES, SAID LINKS BEING IDENTICAL IN LENGTH AND PARALLEL TO ONE ANOTHER; AND ECCENTRIC DRIVE MEANS MOUNTED ON THE SLIPFORM OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO ONE OF SAID LINKS ADAPTED TO RECIPROCATE SAID ONE LINK TO THEREBY CAUSE SAID LINKS TO OSCILLATE IN A VERTICAL PLANE ABOUT THEIR FIXED PIVOTAL AXES ON THE SLIPFORM. 